Cat and dog foods can be defined broadly to include both wet and dry foods as well as cat and dog treats, cat and dog care products (including edible veterinary and dental products), and raw materials incorporated into pet foods and other foods. The palatability of cat and dog foods and cat and dog preferences among different cat and dog foods are important factors that can determine how much of a food a cat or dog will eat. Management of cat and dog nutrition and diet can be essential to good health and longevity of domestic cats and dogs. Better understanding and optimization of the palatability of cat and dog foods can help to improve cats and dogs nutrition and diet and prevent obesity. High palatability of a cat and dog food can encourage reliable, regular consumption of the food and can facilitate administration of the food to the animal. High palatability can be important in inducing cats and dogs to consume cat and dog care products that benefit their health, e.g., veterinary products and dental chews.
Existing methods for determining the palatability of cat and dog foods and cats and dogs preferences among different foods are often intake-based. Examples of intake-based methods include monadic intake tests, choice/preference tests, and monadic intake tests with repeated exposures over time. All such methods correlate the quantity consumed of a particular food with its palatability. Quantity of consumption can be measured through weighing of a food sample before and after eating, or by other methods. Intake-based methods of determining cat and dog food palatability and preference can have certain drawbacks. For example, the quantity of food eaten may not perfectly reflect animal satisfaction, contentment, and preference. The ideal cat or dog food can be one that leaves a cat or dog feeling satiated and satisfied without inducing overeating; foods eaten in the largest quantities may encourage undesirable animal obesity. Intake-based methods can have high variability, which can require large sample sizes (i.e., large numbers of subject animals). Comparison of the palatability of foods of different densities and weights (e.g., wet foods and dry foods) can be challenging or unreliable with intake-based methods. Finally, intake-based methods can require use of large numbers of cats or dogs when untrained house pets are used.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for improved methods of determining cat and dog food palatability and establishing cat and dog food preferences.